Ben. Parado, sir.

Ful. The great affairs I shall employ thee most in, will be news, And telling what's a clock, for ought I know yet.

Ben. It is, sir, to speak punctually, some hour and half, eight three thirds of two seconds of one minute over at most, sir.

Ful. I do not ask thee now, or if I did,
We are not much the wiser; and for news--

Ben. Auria, the fortunate, is this day to be receiv'd with great solemnity at the city councilhouse; the streets are already throng’d with lookers on. Ful. That's well remember'd; brother Don, let's

trudge,
Or we shall come too late.

Guz. By no means, brother.
Ful. Wait close, my ragged new-come.
Ben. As your shadows.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.-A Hall in the House of Auria.

Enter Auria, ADURNI, MARTINO, TRELCATIO,

AURELIO, PIERO, and FUTELLI,

Aur. Your favours, with these honours, speak

your bounties;
And though the low deserts of my success
Appear, in your constructions, fair and goodly,
Yet I attribute to a noble cause,
Not my abilities, the thanks due to them.

The duke of Florence hath too highly prized
My duty in my service, by example,
Rather to cherish and encourage virtue,
In spirits of action, than to crown the issue
Of feeble undertakings. Whilst my life
Can stand in use, I shall no longer rate it
In value, than it stirs to pay that debt
I owe my country for my birth and fortunes.

Mart. Which to make good, our state of Genoa,
Not willing that a native of her own,
So able for her safety, should take pension
From any other prince, hath cast upon you
The government of Corsica.

Trel. Adds thereto, Besides th' allowance yearly due, for ever, you

and to your heirs, the full revenue
Belonging to Savona, with the office
Of admiral of Genoa.

Adur. Presenting
By my hands, from their public treasury,
A thousand ducats.

Mart. But they limit only
One month of stay for your dispatch; no more.
Fut. In all your great attempts, may you grow

thrifty,
Secure and prosperous!

Piero. If you please to rank,
Amongst the humblest, one that shall attend
Instructions under your command, I am
Ready to wait the charge.

Aur. Oh, still the state

Το

your merit,

Engageth me her creature, with the burthen
Unequal for my weakness: to you, gentlemen,
I will prove friendly honest ; of all mindful.
Adur. In memory, my LORD, (such is your

stile now)
Of your late fortunate exploits, the council,
Amongst their general acts, have register'd
The great-duke's letters, witness of
To stand in characters upon record.
Aur. Load upon load! let not my want of

modesty
Trespass against good manners; I must study
Retirement to compose this weighty business,
And moderately digest so large a plenty,
For fear it swell into a surfeit.

Adur. May I
Be bold to press a visit?

Aur. At your pleasure :
Good time of day, and peace!
All. Health to your lordship !

[Exeunt all but ADUR. and Fur. Adur. What of Spinella yet?

Fut. Quite lost; no prints,
Or any tongue of tracing her. However
Matters are huddled

up,

I doubt, my lord, Her husband carries little peace about him.

Adur. Fall danger what fall can, she is a good

ness

Above temptation; more to be adored
Than sifted; I'm to blame, sure.

Fut. Levidolche,

For her part too, laugh'd at Malfato's frenzy ;
(Just so she term'd it;) but for you, my lord,
She said she thank'd your charity, which lent
Her crooked soul, before it left her body,
Some respite, wherein it might learn again
The means of growing straight.

Adur. She has found mercy;
Which I will seek, and sue for.
Fut. You are happy.

[Exeunt.

1

SCENE III.-Another Room in the same.

Enter AURIA and AURELIO.

1

Aur. Count of Savona! Genoa's admiral !
Lord

governor of Corsica ! enrolld
A worthy of my country! sought and sued to,
Praised, courted, flatter'd! sure this bulk of mine
Tails in the size! a tympany of greatness
Puffs up too monstrously my narrow chest.
How surely dost thou malice these extremes,
Uncomfortable man ! When I was needy,
Cast naked on the flats of barren pity,
Abated to an ebb so low, that boys
A cock-horse frisk d about me without plunge,
You could chat gravely then, in formal tones,
Reason most paradoxically; now,

How surely dost thou malice these extremes,] i. e. view with ill will

, bear malice to, &c. Thus Jonson: “I am so far from malicing their states, That I begin to pity them.”—vol, ii. p. 208.

x

VOL. II.

Contempt and wilful grudge at my uprising
Becalms your learned noise.

Aurel. Such flourish, Auria,
Flies with so swift a gale, as it will waft
Thy sudden joys into a faithless harbour.
Aur. Canst mutter mischief? I observ'd your

dulness, Whilst the whole ging crowd to me.

Hark!

my triumphs Are echo'd under every roof; the air Is straiten’d with the sound, there is not room Enough to brace them in; but not a thought Doth pierce into the grief that cabins here: Here, through a creek, a little inlet, crawls A flake, no bigger than a spider's thread, Which sets the region of my heart a-fire.

a I had a kingdom once, but am deposed From all that royalty of blest content, By a confederacy 'twixt love and frailty. Aurel. Glories in public view but add to

misery, Which travails in unrest at home.

Aur. At home! That home Aurelio speaks of I have lost, And, which is worse, when I have roll'd about, Toil'd like a pilgrim round this globe of earth, Wearied with care, and overworn with age,

? A fluke, no bigger than a spider's thread.] The old copy has a sister's thread; which I do not understand, unless it means one of the Fates : if the reader prefer a spinster's thread, it is just as near the quarto, and just as likely to be genuine.